A YOUNG offenders institute (YOI) which houses hundreds of Mid Cheshire youngsters each year has one of the highest rates of self-harm incidents in the country, new figures show.

Statistics released under the Freedom of Information Act show officials at Stoke Heath YOI, where teenage offenders from Northwich and Winsford are sent, recorded 216 incidents – ranging from scratches to attempted hangings – in just 12 months, the fourth worst in the country.

Two of those institutes – Feltham, Middlesex and Glen Parva, Leicester – have larger operating capacities than Stoke Heath, based in Market Drayton.

A Prison Service spokesman said “any act where a prisoner deliberately harms irrespective of method, intent or severity of injury” is treated as self-harm.

According to the figures, taken from September 1, 2006 to August 31, 2007, Lancaster Farms, which also houses Mid Cheshire youngsters, has the ninth worst record of the country’s 20 YOIs.